Antibiotics may make you fat

THE trillions of bacteria that colonise our guts are in jeopardy. Overusing antibiotics has not only led to the development of dangerous superbugs, but has changed the bacteria that live inside us. Now evidence suggests that new gut floras may be responsible for our expanding waistlines.

Antibiotic use has been rising for the past 70 years. They are now often prescribed as a precaution for illnesses when the cause has not been confirmed as a bacterial infection. Martin Blaser, a microbiologist at New York University, fears that over-prescribing antibiotics could be harming some communities of "good" bacteria that line your intestines.

The effects could be long-lasting, too. For example, some antibiotics seem to permanently oust Helicobacter pylorifrom their home in our stomachs. Widespread use of antibiotics has correlated with a fall in the number of people playing host to H. ...

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